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.he 'The Screen Manager''\&\(co Compilations'
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\s+2\fBThe Screen Manager\fP\s0
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The 
.b "Screen Manager"
\- a collection of screen based tools for Unix
workstations and mini-computers which makes Unix about as
friendly and easy to use as it gets:
.bu
a personal database manager with full screen data entry and utilities,
.if \n[XTREE] \{
.bu
an Xtree-like visual shell or file manager, 
\}
.bu
an easy to use, function key driven text editor for casual or
infrequent Unix users
.if \n[DCALC] \{
.bu
an RPN calculator
\}
.bu
A full-screen form building system that allows simple building of user
interfaces - all fully function key driven.
.bu
easy to use front ends to the Unix utilities that help you learn the
underlying UNIX syntax (or ignore it completely if you want!).
.bu
on Sun OpenLook systems, a
front end which gives X-window 'smarts' to the 
.b "Screen Manager's"
full screen text applications.
.bu
MS-DOS versions are available to provide the same user interface on
PC's as on the UNIX system - put this on your laptop when you travel
away from your UNIX system!
.bu
an Application Programming Interface to enable developers to create
their own programs using
.b "Screen Manager"
forms and menus.
.uh DESCRIPTION
.lp
UNIX has wonderful tools for manipulating text files and extremely
powerful libraries for creating full screen applications -
.b curses (3)
and
.b terminfo (3). 
Curiously, until now, UNIX has not had a set of tools that
takes full advantage of these facilities.
For example, the editor
.b vi (1)
uses the older
.b termcap (3)
library and although it is a powerful full-screen application, 
it could hardly be called easy-to-use.
.lp
By using (and taming)
.b curses ,
the
.b "Screen Manager"
aims to fill this gap by providing full screen utilities all of which
make extensive use of the keypad and softkeys for intuitive PC-style input.
On-screen softkey labels are always present so that
the user is kept aware of the available commands and for the power
user, there are keyboard shortcuts available for commonly used
commands.
On Sun OpenLook and MS-DOS systems, the
.b "Screen Manager"
programs are all mouse-aware - just point and click!
.lp
Most importantly, the
.b "Screen Manager"
programs run with the same look-and-feel
on all flavours of UNIX (including Xenix) as well as
MS-DOS and the format of the data files is the same across all
platforms. Your data is therefore portable to wherever you sit on a
network - and when you travel you can take it with you on your MS-DOS
laptop!
.lp
Programmers can use the
.b "Screen Manager"
library to create new applications with the same portability and
consistent ease of use. Most likely, a programmer will be able to
customise and rapidly prototype an application with the
.b "Screen Manager"
suite without writing a single line of code.
.lp
Currently available applications include the following (commands
marked with \*[dd] are available on UNIX systems only).
.uh "GENERAL UTILITIES"
.lp
.if \n[XTREE] \{
.ip "\fBsmtree\fP \*[dd]"
A visual shell for manipulating files and directories. Uses a file
tagging and untagging mechanism so that you can see exactly which
files will be affected by an operation (e.g. deletion)
.b before
doing it.
\}
.if \n[DCALC] \{
.ip \fBsmcalc\fP
a full screen Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculator with financial,
statistical, scientific and computer science applications. How often
have you sat at a $50,000 computer rated at several megaflops
only to have to scratch around for a
calculator to add up some numbers? Put this on your machine!
\}
.ip \fBsmedit\fP
a simple text editor - a replacement for
.b vi (1)
for infrequent or casual UNIX users or for those who find
.b vi (1)
just too hard to use.
.uh "DATA MANIPULATION UTILITIES"
.lp
.ip \fBsmdata\fP
a data file editor which can be taught the format of your data files.
.b smdata
is a flat-file personal database manager for UNIX which can be used 
for applications as simple as address lists, as
important as editing \fB/etc/passwd\fR or as
complex as a multiple file database.
Because
.b smdata
operates on stock standard text files keeping information about the
data (such as the names and types of
fields) in a separate file, it is a natural extension to UNIX. This is
in marked contrast to other systems which require special formatting of
data files and special versions of
.b sort (1),
.b grep (1)
etc to be bought and maintained.
.lp
.ip ""
.b smdata
is also the control program for the menuing system - just create a
menu with
.b smcreate
(below) and run smdata on it - put this in the start-up script for
your users and hey presto! instant ease of use! 
.if t \{
See Fig. 1. for an example of a menuing front end.
.lp
.\" Produced by xwd|xpr -device ps -portrait -psfig > menusmpl.xps
.PSPIC menusmpl.xps
.ce 1
\fBFigure 1. Example of a menu screen produced by smdata.\fP
.hl
\}
.ip \fBsmcreate\fP
a full screen editor for creating screen and softkey layouts for use in
.b smdata
or in program development.
.ip \fBsm2awk\fP
converts screen layouts produced by
.b smcreate
into
.b awk (1)
scripts. These can be edited and fine tuned to produce reports from
your data.
.ip \fBsmquick\fP
a utility to scan your data file and produce a boiler plate
.b "Screen Manager"
description file that can be fine tuned with
.b smcreate
ready for use in
.b smdata .
.ip \fBsmupdate\fP
If the format of your data changes (e.g. fields in a different order,
fields added or deleted etc) run the data through this utility to
reformat.
.ip \fBsmclean\fP
Run your data through this utility to check that all the fields are present.
.ip \fBxctool\fP
An OpenLook shell for Sun users to take advantage of the mouse, buttons,
pull down menus etc
.ip \fBsm2c\fP
a programmer's tool which converts screen layouts produced by
.b smcreate
into C language include files ready for compilation.
.uh "FRONT ENDS TO UNIX COMMANDS"
.lp
All the following commands run the standard UNIX commands from an easy to use
full screen form - just fill in the fields and check boxes and run.
For example, compare the intuitive and informative
.b smsort
command screen 
.if t in Fig. 2. 
with composing the rather obscure UNIX command:
.lp
.nf
.ti +1i
\fBsort -t';' +2 -3f +0 -1f addr.txt\fP
.fi
.lp
.if t \{
.ne 4i
.PSPIC smsort.xps
.ce 1
\fBFigure 2. smsort command screen.\fP
.hl
.lp
\}
Mind you, if you want to learn UNIX's
commands then the
.b "Screen Manager"
will teach you by showing the command line syntax that it composes and
by letting you export the command line to a file for inclusion in your
own shell scripts.
.ip "\fBsmgrep\fP \*[dd]"
A friendly front end to the UNIX
.b grep (1)
utility for searching inside files for text and then viewing or editing each
\&'hit'.  Goodbye to obscure UNIX options - unless you want to let the
.b "Screen Manager"
teach you!
.ip "\fBsmsort\fP \*[dd]"
A front end to the UNIX
.b sort (1)
utility. Fill in the blanks, hit the 'sort' button and your file is
sorted.
.ip "\fBsmfind\fP \*[dd]"
An easy to use file finder. Fill in the form and hit the 'find'
button.
.b smfind
locates your files and invites you to view or edit them or execute a
command on them.
